Smoker&#39;s article



April 17, 1962 J. D. GOODELL 3,029,824

SMOKER'S ARTICLE Filed July 26, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.2

INVENTOR JOHN D. GOODELL ATTORNEY April 1962 J. 0. GOODELL 3,029,824

- SMOKERS ARTICLE Filed July 26, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JOHN D.GOODELL BY Mm. 7A/MZ ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,029,824SMGKERS ARTICLE John D. Goodall, St. Paul, Minn, assignor to StandardPackaging Corporation, a corporation of Virginia Filed July 26, 1957,Ser. No. 674,402 3 Claims. (Cl. 131-240) This invention relates to anovel smokers article and more particularly to an ash tray having acigarette holder slideably attached to a slender rod which projectsupwardly from the base thereof. The cigarette holder floats freely at afixed distance from the base of the ash tray ermitting ashes fromburning cigarettes and cigars to fall into the base away from thecigarette and cigars.

Permanent magnets located within the base and in the cigarette holdercause the latter to be suspended above the base of the ash tray. Therepelling forces set up between the magnets in the base and in thecigarette holder provide the means of suspending the cigarette holderfree of the base.

Accordingly, it is a broad object of the present invention to provide animproved smokers article;

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel ash tray having aminimum of moving parts;

A further object of this invention is to provide an ash tray with acigarette holder positioned above the ash receiving portion;

Another object of this invention is to provide in an ash tray havingmeans for suspending the cigarette holder over the ash tray.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide in an ashtray means of separating cigarettes and the like from the ashesresulting therefrom;

Still another object of this invention is to provide an ash tray havingmagnetic means for keeping cigarettes separated from the ashes, and

A further object of the present invention is to provide in an ash trayhaving a cigarette holder mounted upon a center post, magnetic means forpreventing the cigarette holder from gravitating or levitating from acertain posi tion.

in the drawings:

FEGURE i is a top view of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2 -2 of FIGURE 1;

FEGURE 3 is an exploded view in perspective illustrating the componentsof the invention; and

FIGURE 4 represents a perspective view of the invention as it appears inuse.

As shown in the drawing, the preferred form of the invention utilizes ashallow base It for receiving ashes. Base 1% may be made of any suitablenon-magnetic material such as brass, general purpose phenolic plastic,aluminum and the like. In the center of the base is a raised circularplatform 11 which provides a cavity 11A (FIG- URE 2) for housing variouscomponents. The base also includes a slightly sloping supporting sideWall 30 and a concave inner surface 31 extending from the top of sidewall 30 to the lower side of platform 11. This construction allows thebase It} to hold an ample supply of ESLCJS and discarded cigarettes,cigars, etc. besides serving to enhance the general appearance of theentire assembly.

A cigarette holder 12 is provided which is slideably mounted upon acenter post or rod 14. Rod 14 is threadedly secured to a metal insert 27staked into the base at 17 as shown in FIGURE 3, and is made of anonmagnetic material such as brass preferably chromeplated. A plasticball is attached to rod 14 to prevent the cigarette holder 12 frombecoming disengaged, as for example, when the ash tray is cleaned orwhen the ashes 3,029,824 Patented Apr. 17, 1962 are dumped out. As shownin FIGURES 2 and 3, the holder includes a main body 12A fabricated ofthe same material as the base, (preferably of general purpose phenolicplastic) and having horizontally disposed radially extending cigaretterests 1213 located along its circumference. For the sake of appearanceand for balancing purposes cigarette rests 12B are disposed at equalintervals subtending identical central angles. Although three rests 12Bare illustrated in the particular embodiment under discussion it will bereadily understood that any number within reason is comprehended withinthe purview of the invention.

Main body 12A of cigarette holder 12 has an annular recess 12C formedtherein into which a washer shaped permanent magnet 24 and a spacer 25are lodged in the manner shown in FIGURE 3. Spacer 25 may be of spongerubber composition or any other suitable material. A hole 12D in thecenter of body 12A permits rod 14 to extend therethrough and adecorative panel 13 of aluminum or other suitable non-magnetic materialcompletes the cigarette holder assembly. Lugs 13A projecting downwardlyfrom panel 13 serve to anchor the panel into main body 12A throughapertures not shown in the drawings, situated around the periphery ofthe main body 12A.

Base 10 is formed with an inner cavity 11A (FIGURE 2) having an annularrecess similar to the annular recess 12C of cigarette holder 12. Asshown in FIGURES 2 and 3 insert 27 is mounted in the central portion ofthe annular recess and is threaded on both ends. The upper end 27A ofinsert 27 is threaded to receive rod 14 while the lower end 27b isthreaded to receive machine bolt 19. The base, shown assembled in FIGURE2, has three washer shaped magnets 20, 21 and 22 of the same size andcharacter as magnet 24 which are fitted into the annular recess orcavity 11A. Directly below magnets 20, 21 and 22 is spacer 23, similarto aforementioned spacer 25, which abuts against bottom plate 16. Theentire base assembly is held together by machine bolt 19 threaded intoinsert 27.

In the construction shown, magnets 20, 21, 22 and 23 are of theso-called ceramic type, i.e., they are made of v barium carbonate andiron oxide, obtainable in powdered form and compressed into the desiredshape after which they are kiln fired and then cooled. It is importantto note that the easy or preferred direction of magnetization lies alongthe direction of compression resulting in an effective magnetic lengthequivalent to the thickness of each washer produced. That is to say, oneflat surface of each magnet is a north magnetic pole and the oppositeflat surface is a south magnetic pole. The three magnets 20, 21, and 22located in the base 10 are stacked so that the south surface of onemagnet is adjacent the north surface of the next magnet therebymultiplying the total effective magnetic length by the number of magnetsused, in this case three.

On the other hand magnet 24, of the same size as one of the threemagnets in the base 10, is arranged so that the face thereof adjacentbase 10 is of the same polarity as the top face of the uppermost magnetlocated in base 10. The resulting magnetic repulsion between the stackof magnets 20, 21, and 22 and magnet 24 is suflicient in strength tocause cigarette holder 12 to be freely suspended at a discrete distancefrom base 10, notwithstanding the infiuence of gravity on cigaretteholder 12.

Bottom plate 16, fabricated of thin gauge steel, serves to shield themagnetic field produced by magnets 20, 21 and 22. Of interest is thefact that the cigarette holder 12 actually levitates within a roughlydefined vertical zone along rod 14. That is to say, when cigaretteholder 12 is in the lower regions of the aforementioned zone, arepulsion essentially equal to the force of gravity manifests itself.Moving cigarette holder 12 upwardly on rod 14 results in the positioningby magnetic forces of the holder at a different level above the base.This second position is thought to represent the upper extremity of thezone of magnetic influence and may be due to the convergence of magneticlines emanating from the periphery of bottom plate 16.

It is to be understood that many other embodiments of this invention mayoccur to others, and therefore, the scope of invention is to bedetermined from the appended claims and is not to be limited by theforegoing detailed description.

I claim:

1. A cigarette ash tray comprising a molded plastic base having aconcave upper ash receiving surface with a raised circular platform inthe center thereof, the raised platform having an annular recess on theunderside thereof, a circular shaped cigarette holder having radiallyextending arms for receiving cigarettes and having an annular recesstherein, a first permanent magnet adapted to fit into the annular recessof said base, a second permanent magnet adapted to fit into the annularrecess of said cigarette holder, said first and second magnets beingsubstantially fiat washer shaped and having their respective north andsouth poles disposed in such a manner that a line joining the north andsouth poles is perpendicular to the flat surfaces thereof, the saidfirst magnet having a pole positioned adjacent the like pole of saidsecond magnet thereby causing a repelling force therebetween, platemeans for retain-ing said first magnet in said base, panel means forretaining said second magnet in said cigarette holder, and rod means forsupporting said cigarette holder over said base.

2. A cigarette ash tray comprising a one piece molded base having aconcave upper surface with a raised platform in the center, the raisedplatform being formed into an annular recess on the underside of theupper surface, a stationary first permanent magnet adapted 'to fit intothe annular recess of said base, said first magnet having two flatsurfaces with magnetic fields extending in a direction normal to theflat surfaces thereof, means for retaining said first magnet within saidbase, an elongated guide member releasably fastened to the raisedplatform of saidbase and extending upwardly therefrom, a cigaretteholder coaxially mounted for .free slidable movement along saidelongated guide member, said cigarette holder having radially extendingarms to hold cigarettes and having an annular recess on the undersidethereof, a second permanent magnet adapted to fit into the annularrecess of said cigarette holder, said second magnet having two fiatsurfaces with magnetic fields extending in a direction normal to theflat surfaces thereof, means for retaining said second magnet in saidcigarette holder, the first and second magnets being disposed so thattheir respective magnetic poles repel each other thereby causing saidcigarette holder to be suspended free of said base, and means in saidbase for shielding said first magnet.

3. An ash tray comprising a circular base having a concaved upper ashreceiving facing surface with a raised circular platform in the centerthereof, said platform forming an annular recess in the downwardlyfacing surface of said base, a first magnetic system comprising aplurality of flat horizontally disposed circular magnets positioned invertical symmetry Within said annular recess, each magnet having amagnetic field effective in a direction normal to the flat surfacesthereof, the south pole of one magnet abutting the north pole of theadjacent magnet for reinforcing the magnetic properties of each adjacentmagnet and producing the magnetic characteristics of a single magnet, anelongated rod member attached to said base and extending verticallyupward therefrom, an annular cigarette holderrhaving a centrallydisposed aperture therethrough for circumventing said rod member inspaced relation from the outer surface thereof whereby said holder isfree for rotatable and vertical movement along said rod member, saidcigarette holder having a plurality of radially extending arcuatemembers for holding cigarettes, a second magnetic system comprising aflat horizontally disposed cylindrical magnet having a magnetic fieldefiective in a direction normal to the fiat surfaces thereof housedwithin said cigarette holder and positioned over said first magneticsystem, said second magnetic system having lines of magnetic forceextending downward therefrom of the same polarity as the lines ofmagnetic force extending upward from said first magnetic system forrepelling the same and suspending said cigarette holder along said rodin spaced relation above said base, and a shield positioned below saidfirst magnetic system for shielding the magnetic lines of forceextending downward therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,605,266- Moers Nov. 2, 1926 2,315,408 Fans Mar. 30, 1943 2,323,837Neal July 6, 1943 2,436,939 Schug Mar. 2, 1948 2,615,738 Johnson Oct.28, 1952 2,737,956 Casper Mar. 13, 1956 2,751,525 Hekelaar June 19, 19562,947,920 Primrose Aug. 2, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 257,326 Great BritainAug. 25, 1926 440,700 Great Britain Ian. 3, 1936' 456,073 Great BritainNov. 3, 1936

